Sanjay Dutt gets 4 weeks to surrender

New Delhi, Apr 17 (): Sanjay Dutt who was directed by the Supreme Court to serve the remaining three-and half-year jail term in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blast case was granted four more weeks’ time to surrender on Wednesday.

The actor who was earlier asked by the court to surrender this week requested the Court to allow him six more months to surrender so that he can finish his film projects full- fledged which the court did not accept. The court also made a confirmation asking Sanjay Dutt’s lawyer that he will not be seeking additional time to surrender.

Making use of its power, the court granted Sanjay Dutt a reprieve under the Constitution and Civil Procedure Code even after the CBI argued saying that this would be considered as a change in the final verdict of the court on March 21, in which it ordered Dutt and all other convicts to surrender within four weeks.

Sanjay Dutt, who was about to surrender tomorrow on April 18, as per the direction of the Supreme Court urged the apex court to allow him to complete his pending work which will take another 196 days as more than Rs 278 crore has been invested by the producers in seven of his movies. The court however did not agree to the actor’s desire.

A bench comprising justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan said that the court cannot extend the time by six months, keeping in mind the peculiar facts and situation of the case and reasons given in the petition.

The court however dismissed petitions by five other convicts including Zaibunisa Anwar Kazi seeking a review of its verdict, claiming that there is no merit in the review petition. The court said that after carefully going through the review petitions it could not find any merit thus there was no other way except to dismiss the petition.